Midnight Movies Return To San Francisco
There is nothing like a Midnight Movie at Landmark's Clay Theatre in San Francisco, CA. It's not just a movie screening, it's a cinematic experience/party. Yesterday this year's Midnight movie program was announced. Check out the details after the jump. Here's the press release:
Landmark's Clay Theatre
2261 Fillmore St. SF 94116
Event Site and Online Tickets: www.landmarkafterdark.com
Price: $9.75
A series of specialty cinematic wonders returns this spring to the historic Clay theatre! This choice group of films known as The Late Night Picture Show brings the creme de la creme of edgy midnight motion pictures to the big screen where they belong. These are the movies your older brother warned you about!
With an eclectic array of films, The Late Night Picture Show has something to every nocturnal nerd and cult creep can enjoy. Even the pickiest of film snobs must take note of these bookings!
Tent poled by the transvestite mother of all midnight movies, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, this season of The Late Night Picture Show houses circus of premieres, director weekends, rare prints and stuff that could (and should) only be screened at midnight.
Some of the highlights of this shining series are rare treats to be savored– and too numerous to mention, but we'll try. Such as two nights of David Lynch's Blue Velvet, the film that put him on a path to his new new release Inland Empire; a San Francisco premiere of a truly inspirational homage to midnight fare that instantly fits right in as a classic, Pervert (with director appearance presented by Midnight Mass); a Jim Jarmusch Director weekend; a new print of Cannibal Holocaust (the most controversial movie ever made, no joke); and of course a complete Rocky Horror experience provided by the (in)famous troupe The Bawdy Caste. Expect giveaways and event tie-ins from Sponsors SF Indiefest as well—not to mention the surprise guest or two, as always!
The Late Night Picture Show: don't miss it!March 2 & 3: MONTY PYTHON & THE HOLY GRAIL
Directed by Terry Gilliam; 1975
It's Square Pegs at the Round Table as England's zaniest humorists take on the Middle Ages and convert Arthurian legend into uncontrollable lunacy! Written and performed by all your favorites—Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin—Holy Grail is being presented uncut, with 24 seconds (!) of footage removed just before its original theatrical release, back in the medieval '70s. Plus the soundtrack has been remastered in Dolby stereo! What more can we say, except "Ni!"
March 9 & 10: BLUE VELVET
Directed by David Lynch; 1986
Returning home to visit his father who is in intensive care at the hospital, Jeffrey Beaumont stumbles upon a human ear he finds in a field. With local police detective Williams and the local police department unable to investigate, Jeffrey and Sandy, Detective Williams's daughter, decide to do their own investigation. But what it leads them to discover is a dark underworld that exists in their hometown. Jeffrey becomes suspicious of nightclub singer Dorothy Vallens–who is involved with Frank Booth, a violent and evil man.
March 16 & 17: PERVERT
Director Jonathan Yudis, Cast and crew in person... with Special Guest Hostess Peaches Christ! Sex. Death. Freedom.
These three ingredients combine to create an orgiastic homage to the outrageous — perhaps the most outrageous movie ever to be committed to celluloid — Pervert! The comic tale of a psychotic sex freak who feasts on female flesh. Don't give away the shocking identity of the killer – or you might be next! A modern cult classic, Pervert was lovingly shot as an homage to the work of the late great Russ Meyer and is a cinematic ode and update to his filmic style.
March 23 & 24: CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST
Directed by Ruggerio Deodato; 1980
This is a 18+ screening only. Accompanied minors will not be admitted.
Banned and heavily censored the world over, the film surpasses its reputation as a shot-gun blast to the senses. It presents the "found footage" of a group of four documentary filmmakers who experience brutal death at the hands of a savage South American tribe of flesh-eaters. This footage is so intense, so graphic and so unflinching in its realism that the director and producer of the Cannibal Holocaust were arrested upon its original release and the film seized.
March 31: THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOWApril 6 & 7: THE ROAD WARRIOR
Directed by George Miller; 1981
A strong candidate for most thrilling action movie ever made (the turbo-charged exhilaration of its full-throttle highway chases has never been equaled), the film is also a magnificently imagined movie myth. Max (Mel Gibson), a burned out shell of a man after the events of Mad Max, rediscovers a sliver of his shattered humanity, and a spark of redemption, when he helps an embattled colony of pioneers fight off the savages who are after that most precious of all commodities: "guzzline." Max is transformed into a legendary hero, just as Mel Gibson was catapulted to fame.
Friday April 13th: FRIDAY THE 13TH
Directed by Sean S. Cunningham; 1980
Our weekend of 80s flashback horror begins with Friday the 13th on.. when else? Friday the 13th! One night only! In 1957, A young boy named Jason Voorhees drowned at Crystal Lake. In 1958, two camp counselors were murdered at Crystal Lake Camp. Now in 1979, Crystal Lake is finally being reopened with a new owner and the help of a few new counselors. Ignoring the warnings from a local wacko, the murders begin again at the hands of a mysterious stalker. Is it revenge the killer is looking for? Who will survive the nightmare and live to tell the story?
Saturday April 14th: RE-ANIMATOR UNCUT
Directed by Stuart Gordon; 1985
One Night Only! With Footage cut from the original theatrical release restored! In this H.P. Lovecraft tale, Herbert West is a Swiss scientist who has discovered a fluid which brings living tissue back to life. After the suspicious death of his professor in Switzerland, West moves to Miskatonic University to continue his research. He involves fellow student Dan Cain and his fiancée Megan Halsey in his research by experimenting on their dead cat. Dan, fascinated by West's research, agrees to smuggle him into the hospital morgue with ghastly results...
April 20 & 21: ENTER THE DRAGON
Directed by Robert Clouse; 1973
Enter the Dragon takes Bruce Lee to the island fortress of a criminal warlord whose martial arts academy covers up opium-smuggling and prostitution activities. To avenge the death of his sister, Lee infiltrates the stronghold and enters Han's brutal martial arts tournament– a breathtaking visual feast of competitions featuring skills in karate, judo, tai kwan do, tai chi chuan, and hapkido, staged by Lee himself. One of the first– and still one of the best–breakout martial arts films in America. With John Saxon and fan favorite Jim Kelly.
Jim Jarmusch Weekend Friday: April 27: DEAD MAN
Directed by Jim Jarmusch; 1995
This season's director spotlight weekend begins with the story of a young man's journey into very unfamiliar terrain. William Blake travels to the American west in post-Civil War America to seek his fortune. Lost and badly wounded, he encounters an odd Native American, named "Nobody," who believes Blake is the dead English poet of the same name. With Nobody's help, Blake travels through situations that are in turn comical and violent. Contrary to his nature, circumstances transform Blake into a hunted outlaw, a killer, and a man whose physical existence is slowly slipping away.
Jim Jarmusch weekend Saturday: April 28: GHOST DOG
Directed by Jim Jarmusch; 1999
Jim Jarmusch weekend continues with the story of a New York hit man that follows Hagakure: The Way of the Samurai. He lives alone, in simplicity, with pigeons, calling himself Ghost Dog. His master, who saved his life eight years' ago, is part of the local mob. When the boss's daughter witnesses one of Ghost Dog's hits, he is expendable. The first victims are his birds, and in response, Ghost Dog goes right at his attackers. Can he stay true to his code? And if he does, what is his fate? Starring academy award nominee Forest Whitaker.
May 4 & 5: THE ADVENTURES OF BUCKAROO BANZAI ACROSS THE 8TH DIMENSION
Directed by W.D. Richter; 1984
Neurosurgeon/Rock Star/Superhero Buckaroo Banzai (Peter Weller) has perfected the oscillation overthruster, a device which allows him to travel through solid matter by passing through the eighth dimension. The Red Lectroids from Planet 10 are after this device for their own evil ends, and it's up to Buckaroo and his band and crime-fighting team The Hong Kong Cavaliers to stop them... because If they fail, Planet 10 will destroy Earth to end the Red Lectroid threat forever! A tribute to pulp novels, comic books, and the just plain bizarre, Buckaroo Banzai is a world unto itself.
May 12: THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOWMay 18 & 19: NAKED LUNCH
Directed by David Cronenberg; 1991
Based on the novel by William S. Burroughs. Exterminator Bill Lee finds himself following his wife into an addiction to the bug powder he uses. After accidentally killing her, he descends into a hallucinatory existence in which he imagines himself a secret agent answering to a series of bizarre creatures. He channels his energies into writing "reports" on his delusional mission. The plot freely weaves together the text of the novel and biographical anecdotes of Burroughs' life to create a 'cut-up' film true to the nature of the work itself– a leap of ingenuity on Cronenberg's part.
May 25, 26, & 27: CLUE
Directed by Jonathan Lynne; 1985
Here is the murderously funny movie based on the world-famous Clue board game. Was it Colonel Mustard in the study with a gun? Miss Scarlet in the billiard room with the rope? Or was it Wadsworth the butler? Meet all the notorious suspects and discover all their foul play. You'll love their dastardly doings as the bodies and the laughs pile up before your eyes. The Film features three surprise endings– and over the course of the three screenings the Clay will play a different ending each night!
BIOSPEACHES CHRIST
Peaches Christ is an underground drag phenomenon whose international star is quickly rising. She is an emcee, actor and award winning short filmmaker with over ten years of professional experience. Ms. Christ currently resides in San Francisco where her Backlash Production Company and Midnight Mass movie series are based. The Peaches Christ Short Film Collection comes out on DVD in June 2006. Peaches' altar-ego Joshua Grannell is currently developing his first feature-length film to be shot in the Bay Area and is a contributing author to the book Left In the Dark: Portraits of San Francisco's Movie Theatres. Joshua also is a co-programmer of this season of The Late Night Picture Show.
www.peacheschrist.com
THE BAWDY CASTE
When Anthony Pearce created The Bawdy Caste back in 1995,
his wisdom and passion for Rocky Horror set a firm foundation for what The Bawdy Caste would become. He applied his 12 years of experience to his approach as The Bawdy Caste Director, stressing the finer points; compassion and respect for the people that make up this cast, the audience, the theater, and the phenomenon as a whole. He taught the cast to never take for granted "the phenomenon" that is much larger than any single actor or cast.
In the past 11 years The Bawdy Caste has grown
from a young cast that many people thought wouldn't survive, to a strong and award winning cast that has become known for its screen accuracy and young talent. Since 1995, Bawdy Caste has performed in San Jose, Fremont, Menlo Park, and Campbell. Aside from regular shows, Bawdy Caste has also performed an AIDS benefit show which raised money for Junior Chamber Mission Inn, performed in The San Francisco Gay Pride Parade, and held two fundraiser shows for The Red Cross after 9/11.
Bawdy Caste has also been blessed with the opportunity to perform Reno's Artown Festival since 1998. What started as a 2000 person audience in Wingfield Park has grown to a 5000 person audience in The Reno Hilton's amphitheater. Rocky Horror has become one of Artown's biggest attractions.
The Caste strives to put on a show that is as accurate to the movie as possible. They pride themselves in the overall look of the show which includes running a technically sound stage and creating a friendly and safe environment for the actors and audience. The Caste as well as the audience should feel like they are allowed to get the FULL Rocky experience each time they come, and that is what The Bawdy Caste is determined to do.
THE SAN FRANCISCO INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL
San Francisco's IndieFest is one film festival that hasn't been swallowed whole by Hollywood, and isn't likely to be. It's a lean, homegrown affair specializing in independent features and shorts, from the ultra quirky to those almost ready for prime time. Soon entering its 9th season, the festival has found its stride but hasn't gotten smug about it. It has also spawned two related festivals, docfest and another hole in the head.